There is nothing to prove that Christ was born December 25th, but the evidence is strong that the time of his birth was about October 1st. It is generally recognized that Jesus was crucified on Friday, April 3, AD 33. The fact that his crucifixion occurred at the close of the 14th day of the Jewish month Nisan, and that this date rarely falls on Friday, but did so in the year A.D. 33 substantiates that date. (For the 10 years Pontius Pilate was governor, under whom Jesus died, there was only a single year in which Nisan 14 fell on a Friday.)
Our Lord was about 30 years of age when he began his ministry (Luke 3:23), and it is clear that his ministry was only for three-and-a-half years. This generally conceded fact is proved by Daniel’s prophecy (Daniel 9:25-27) concerning Christ being cut off in the middle of the seventieth week of Israel’s favor. The “seventy weeks” (a day for a year–490 days, or 490 years–Ezekiel 4:6) dating from 454 B.C. terminated AD 36. In the “midst” of that last week of seven years, the “seventieth week,” Christ was “cut off” –crucified– April 3, A.D. 33. As the Lord Jesus was thirty-three and a half years old when he died, we have only to measure back that length of time to the date of his death to ascertain the date of his birth, which would be about October 3d, BC 2.
